Leeds United and Marcelo Bielsa have handed eight teenagers their Premier League debuts this season - a record in this particular competition.
While doing so has been a mixture of circumstance and opportunity, due to several simultaneous injuries to first-team players, the U23s who have stepped up have largely impressed.
It is a reflection of the work being done behind-the-scenes with the youngsters at Thorp Arch, that the vast majority can assimilate to a Premier League level in fits and starts.
Last season, the likes of Cody Drameh, Joe Gelhardt, Sam Greenwood and Crysencio Summerville were standouts as the U23 squad romped to success in PL2 Division 2.
This year, their development plan has dictated they have featured sporadically in first-team squads, seeing U23 involvement limited.
Understandably they have not yet ousted the current incumbents in their positions at first-team level and with the need for senior minutes, loans are an attractive option.
Cody Drameh has already taken that route, joining Cardiff City on loan until the end of the season, to Marcelo Bielsa's dismay.
However some Leeds United supporters have voted in favour of other young players heading out on loan as well.
In a new poll conducted throughout last month, answered by more than 19,000 Leeds fans, a large portion would loan Crysencio Summerville, Sam Greenwood and the already-departed Drameh out, if they had their way.
Forty-five percent of the 18,600 respondents voted in favour of Greenwood getting regular minutes with a loan club, while thirty-two percent would send Dutch winger Summerville out on a temporary move.
Similarly, thirty-seven percent were in agreement that Cody Drameh should be allowed to leave on loan, however there was one considerable outlier: Joe Gelhardt.
Remarkably, ninety-nine percent of respondents voted in favour of keeping the young striker at Elland Road.
A solitary one percent of Leeds fans voted to sell or loan out the former Wigan Athletic marksman.
Regarding Tyler Roberts, he was another who split opinion with thirty-seven percent choosing to keep the Welshman at the club in some capacity, while the rest were happy to allow the 23-year-old to leave the club.
Marcelo Bielsa does not tend to loan out players he envisages a first-team pathway for, which made Drameh's exit earlier this window all the more surprising.
The young defender had featured occasionally in the first-team since his debut versus Arsenal in the Carabao Cup.
"I didn't think he needed to play games elsewhere," Bielsa stated after Cardiff City had confirmed the loan transfer.
"He was a player that was very necessary with all the absences we had. But he preferred to go and play outside of Leeds in a situation where the opportunities for the youngsters has increased clearly. And in this case, Drameh would prefer to experiment outside of our team.
"I consider that position valid and I don't think it makes sense to oppose him. What I imagined as a great opportunity, he imagined it in a different way and it's more important what he thinks than what I think. I don't think it's convenient to impose in a situation where a player wants to belong or doesn't want to belong."
For Gelhardt, though, it remains unlikely he will be permitted to leave on loan, as his role with the first-team continues to grow. Based on the 19,000 survey respondents, this is certainly something which chimes with their viewpoint on the 19-year-old's development.
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